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KAREN’S KILLER BOOK BENCH: Welcome to Karen’s Killer Book Bench where readers can discover talented new authors and take a peek inside their wonderful books. This is not an age-filtered site so all book peeks are PG-13 or better. Come back and visit often. Happy reading!

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STONE COLD BLOODEDRock Shop Mystery Book ThreeBY CATHERINE DILTS

Blurb

In the third Rock Shop Mystery, Morgan Iverson’s reclusive survivalist neighbor is blown to bits. The police believe he stumbled into his own booby trap, but his granddaughter asks Morgan and newspaperman Kurt Willard to prove it was murder. After the explosion, unidentified creatures make elusive appearances near the rock shop, drawing a summertime invasion of true believers hoping to prove the existence of aliens. Meanwhile, Morgan learns that there may be more to her Triceratops than just the brow horn. Finding the rest of the dinosaur’s remains could solve both her financial problems, and the mystery of her neighbor’s demise.

STONE COLD BLOODEDRock Shop Mystery Book ThreeBY CATHERINE DILTS

Excerpt

In book three of the Rock Shop Mystery series, Stone Cold Blooded, Morgan Iverson is learning how to shoot a rifle near her rock shop in the Colorado mountains.

Del blasted a short note on a shrill whistle.

“Heads up, everyone,” he yelled to the two spectators. “Morgan’s going on the range.”

The homemade shooting range occupied an unused area of the Rock of Ages property, fenced off from the donkeys’ various paddocks and pastures, and with a berm of dirt built up against the natural slope of a low hill. Stray bullets were sure to be absorbed by dirt.

After Del gave Morgan the go-ahead, she walked to a target tacked to a straw bale in front of the berm. Morgan studied the square of paper printed with concentric circles as she approached, disappointed that the center of the target appeared intact. Then she noticed a small hole in an outer ring. She jumped in the air and whooped.

“I hit it!”

Del opened his mouth, possibly to congratulate her, but Morgan couldn’t hear his words.

An explosion rocked the air. Rapid gunfire followed. Del crashed to the ground. For an instant, Morgan feared he’d been shot.

“Hit the dirt!” Del yelled. “Somebody’s shooting!”

Morgan dropped to her knees, feeling every sharp rock through her jeans. Gravel dug into her elbows. Distant shouting ended with more gunfire. Kurt belly-crawled to Morgan.

“It sounds like a battle!” He shouted above the noise of another explosion.

“Terrorists,” Lorina yelled. “I’d bet my best horse on it.”

Morgan pulled her cell phone from her jeans pocket. Thankfully, she had signal on this part of the property. Deputy J. B. Parker answered. Before Morgan got very far in her explanation, another explosion shook the ground.

Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rock Shop Mystery series, while her short stories appear regularly in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. With a day job as an environmental regulatory technician, Catherine’s stories often have environmental or factory-based themes. Others reflect her love of the Colorado mountains, fishing, and running. Her story The Chemistry of Heroes was a 2017 Derringer finalist. This fall, she takes a turn in the cozy mystery series Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library. You can learn more about Catherine’s fiction at http://www.catherinedilts.com/

**SPECIAL GIVEAWAY**: Catherine will give away a copy of STONE COLD BLOODED (or Book One, Two or Three in the series, winner’s choice) to one lucky reader who comments on her **Author Peek** or Karen’s Killer Book Bench blogs. Thanks, Catherine, for sharing your book with us!